Betray the Bear (Bear Valley Shifters #4)(20)

She sank down onto her back and offered him her neck in a last ditch effort to save her own hide. The ground shook as he lowered down onto all four paws, then he wrapped his giant canine teeth around her throat.

She was scared, really scared, but there was something intimate about his mouth on her, and she reached up and rested her paw on his chest, just to feel his pounding heart. His expression changed, softened, and he released her. Pressing his giant nose against the fur of her neck, he inhaled deeply and wrapped his arm around her, drawing her closer to his body. Her breath came in short bursts. She wanted him. Bear or human, she wanted this man.

“Chase!” a man yelled from the fence. Riker.

His eyes dropped to his paw, now cradling her and such a look of utter confusion passed over his features. He shrank back and in a moment was human once again. And gloriously naked.

Everything about him was huge and he didn’t even try to hide his erection from the people gathering around the edge of the arena. Confident man indeed.

“Change back, now!” he yelled. Whoa, he sounded pissed.

Closing her eyes against his angry glare, she melted back into her human skin and stood with as much dignity as she could muster while naked, covered in mud and reeking of pheromones. Oh horny inner bear. What have you done?

She cupped her sex to hide at least some of her, but his eyes stayed on her breasts. Ah, a boob man. No, not on her breasts, but above them.

“You lied to me.” His voice came out steely and dangerous.

She pursed her lips and shook her head slow. “I don’t know what you mean.” Could his bear read minds? Could he tell she was a traitor just from the smell of her fur?

“You aren’t mated to Nathan, alpha of the Long Claws. You aren’t mated to anyone.”

She frowned and opened her mouth but nothing came out. Canting her head, she said, “I’m sorry, what do you mean?”

Chase yanked her arm forward so fast she inhaled a sharp breath. “I mean, you aren’t marked, Anya. You aren’t claimed by Nathan. You’re just thoroughly f*cked by him.”

“How dare you.” Narrowing her eyes, she tried to pull away from him but his hand stayed firm. “You know nothing about what we are.” Shit. “What we were. I was so claimed by him.”

“Jo, were other people in the Long Claws marked like you are now?” he asked over her shoulder.

Anya twisted in his grasp and Jo stood naked as the day she was born, sporting a red, three cut scar under her collar bone and biting at her thumbnail.

“A few,” she answered.

“So the Long Claws know of the claiming ritual?”

“Yep,” Jo said.

He turned his furious glare back on Anya. “Yet Nathan didn’t claim you. Do any of the others bear his mark?”

Anya stared at him, mortified as what he was saying sank in. Of course April and Greta didn’t bear Nathan’s mark either. He wouldn’t be able to switch them out as he pleased if he had committed to them like that. His clan would see it as a failure. She felt sick and duped and so stupid. “No.”

“Was there even a ceremony, Anya?”

She squeezed her eyes closed and dropped her gaze to his bare feet. “No.” Her voice came out small and defeated. Pathetic.

He released her and strode off. “What else have you lied about?” he muttered over his shoulder. His eyes blazed an inhuman color as he threw her one final furious look.

“Wait, why do you care?” She jogged in an effort to catch up. “Why are you mad at me now? What have I done wrong?”

“Why do you think?”

“I don’t know what to think!”

She clamped her hand around his wrist and he yanked away from her. “Don’t touch me.”

“So, I don’t have a mate. I didn’t know that, and I didn’t know I was lying. It wasn’t a lie to me. I’ve been with him for two years. What are you so pissed about? I didn’t hurt you. Things are different there than here, and you’ve acted like I wounded you. This has nothing to do with you!”

“Doesn’t it?” he growled, and his eyes were raw, boring into her until she could almost feel the caress of his burning gaze against her flaming skin. “I can’t trust you.”

It seemed like such a loss, but it shouldn’t have been. Of course he couldn’t. They didn’t know each other. And even if something…strange…was happening between them, it didn’t make up for the fact that their paths had only crossed yesterday. And truth be told, she couldn’t be trusted. There. There it was. She was here to do exactly what he was suspicious of. Her chest burned under his rejection and anger.

“You’re hurting me,” she said in a ragged whisper.

“I’m not touching you,” he said as he jerked her pile of clothes from the table near the fence.

The brown paper parcel fell into the mud and she lunged for it, not wanting it to get wet. Inhumanly fast, Chase bent and pulled it out of her reach.

“What’s this, spy?”

She hated that word. Even if it was who she was, she didn’t want it to be and hadn’t chosen this path for herself.

“Don’t,” she cried as he ripped into it, nearly spilling the herbs inside.

He frowned and lifted his confused gaze to hers. “What is this?”